Mio Continuous Technology can be found in all Mio products. This award-winning, patented technology reads EKG-accurate heart rate data at speeds of up to 15mph without the need for a chest strap.

Our Technology: Under the Hood

Developed together with Philips, our performance level continuous optical heart rate sensors measure your heartbeat in real-time using two green LEDs and an electro-optical cell.

Integrated into the back plate of a wristband or watch, the LEDs shine light into the skin, which enables the electro-optical cell to detect your pulsing volume of blood flow.

Innovation: Our Secret Sauce

While optical heart rate measurement (OHR) has been used in hospitals for years, it hasn’t been suitable for active situations due to the disturbance of ‘noise’ generated by movement. With the help of our friends at Philips, we created a solution to cancel out the ‘noise’ caused by movement, by adding an accelerometer to the OHR sensor package. By doing this, we’ve redirected the movement data into an algorithm, which then gives out a clean heart rate signal in performance scenarios.

Creating Comfort in Heart Rate Monitoring

Before we came along, many runners and cyclists had to wear uncomfortable chest strap-based wireless sensors in order to track and measure their heart rates. While chest straps were effective in reading heart rates, the hassle of wearing them was often too much to handle. Chest straps chafe, feel too restrictive, and often slip out of place – resulting in inaccurate heart rate readings and overall discomfort.

To address the issue of the traditional, cumbersome chest strap, we integrated our optical sensor into the back of our running watches and wristbands.

Today, we're happy to say that because of Mio Continuous Technology, we’ve freed many of the world's runners and cyclists from the dreaded chest strap!

Airtight Accuracy

Mio Continuous Technology is highly comparable to ECG and chest strap solutions. A validation study carried out by Maastricht University concluded an accuracy of -01 ± 0.3bpm (from -0.5 to 0.8bpm) for the OHR component, which is actually higher (p<0.001) than a chest strap solution. Not bad, right?

Train with Heart ®

Mio’s heart rate wristbands and watches are designed to help you reach your fitness goals with our patented EKG-accurate heart rate monitor taken at the wrist. No chest strap required!